How He Feels
by dragonflybeach
Summary: A set of drabbles addressing Draco and Luna's complicated relationship, based off Kat's speech in the movie "Ten Things I Hate About You." even though it's more than ten things. :D
1. Chapter 1

A/N - Written for the 10 Things I Hate About You Challenge. The drabbles are based off Kat's speech from the movie, but some lines are out of order for the flow of the story.

The speech/poem is as follows:

_"I hate the way you talk to me and the way you cut your hair.  
I hate the way you drive your car, I hate it when you stare.  
I hate your big dumb combat boots and the way you read my mind.  
I hate you so much it makes me sick, it even makes me rhyme.  
I hate the way you're always right, I hate it when you lie.  
I hate it when you make me laugh, even worse when you make me cry.  
I hate it when you're not around and the fact that you didn't call.  
But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you; not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all."_

Bonus points if you find the quotes from the movie. :)

* * *

**I hate the way you talk to me **

"Hello, Draco." A soft voice came from somewhere near his left elbow.

Luna Lovegood materialized from the dimly lit ballroom.

"You don't look happy to be here." she observed.

"You wouldn't either if you had come with Pansy Parkinson to some stupid Ministry function where no one wants you here anyway." he grumbled.

"Why has Pansy ruined your evening?" she asked.

"People perceive her as somewhat ... "

"Tempestuous?" Luna offered.

He snorted. "'Heinous bitch' is the term used most often."

"Why did you bring her as a date if you find her so objectionable?"

"It wasn't my choice." he huffed. "My parents still think they're going to make a match of the two of us."

"You don't always have to be who they want you to be, Draco." she said gently.

"I happen to like being adored, thank you." he took a larger than polite sip of his wine. "My parents will continue to adore me and spoil me as long as I cater to their whims."

"That's probably true." she nodded. "But one day, your parents will be gone, and where will your life be then?"

He stared at her for a moment.

"Oh look, there's Bill Weasley." she said, and walked away.

Two and a half years since the last time he had seen her, the day she testified at his trial and had seemingly presented evidence for both sides, and she still stunned him with her insight.

Not that he needed her insight, thank you very much.


	2. Chapter 2

**and the way you cut your hair.**

Draco walked past someone in the hall in the Ministry, stopped, turned, and walked back to intercept the person.

"Lovegood?" he frowned.

The woman with short hair and radish earrings nodded.

"You chopped off all your hair." his frowned deepened.

"I was in the brush in Australia for three months." she informed him. "All sorts of creatures were trying to nest in it."

"It's hideous." he informed her. "It makes your eyes look even bigger. If you cut your hair any shorter, your eyes will be bigger than dinner plates."

"Thank you for your observation." she smiled at him. "I plan to grow it back out."

"When?" he asked, not even sure why.

"As soon as I'm done with this Ministry business." she explained. "Some of the people who control the funding for our projects rather remind me of some of the creatures who live in the Australian bush, so I thought to be rather safe than sorry, as the expression goes."

He bit his lip to keep from laughing. "Yes, I have seen some of the unwashed miscreants who work here."

"It's good to see you, Draco." she smiled as she started to walk away. "You do look much better than the last time I saw you. I'm glad you decided to stand up to your parents regarding Pansy."


	3. Chapter 3

**I hate it when you stare.**

He was at another damn Ministry function that his mother and his boss and everyone else in the damn country thought he should attend.

And once again, as soon as he arrived, the other attendees wasted no time in making him feel unwelcome.

Except Luna Lovegood, who just watched him from across the room, not making any attempt to approach him.

Finally, he had enough and approached her.

"Why don't you just come say it?" he hissed.

"Say what?" she asked, her brow wrinkling.

"That I have no business being here. Ask me if it's field trip day at Azkaban. Tell me that I used my money or the Malfoy name or I sucked someone's dick to get away with all my crimes." he rambled off some of the barbs that had been hurled his way.

"Why?" she tilted her head. "I don't think any of those things."

"What do you think, then?" he snapped.

"I think you did the things you did because you didn't know who Draco Malfoy was. That you only knew what people told you that you were." she shrugged. "And I think to some degree, you still don't know who Draco Malfoy is."

"Has the fact that you're completely mad managed to escape your attention?" He snarled irritably.

"No, it hasn't." she smiled. "But I'll tell you something. All the best people are. There's a touch of madness in you, but you're afraid of it."

She turned and walked out the french doors into the garden.

He stomped after her, taking her arm and turning her around.

"Why do you think I'm mad?" he asked.

"Because you haven't kissed me yet, and you very obviously want to." she looked up at him completely seriously.

_"You_ are mad." he growled. "I have no intention of kissing you. Why do you think I want to?"

"Because your face is flushed and your pulse is racing and you're starting to perspire." she listed matter of factly.

"That's because you're making me angry." he nearly shouted.

She reached up, twined his fingers in his hair, and pulled his head down to hers, pressing their lips together.

He froze for a moment, and then poured himself into the kiss.

Time meant nothing, and for once he didn't worry about what anyone would say if they came along and caught him doing something that was obviously so wrong.

When they finally broke apart, she smiled up at him. "Anger is only a step away from madness."

Later, he told himself it had been the wine that made him follow her back to her flat.

Some little voice in his head reminded him that he had only had two glasses, but he told it to shut up.


	4. Chapter 4

**I hate your big dumb combat boots**

The first time she had invited him to visit her on an expedition, he had expected to find the same Luna from Hogwarts, or maybe the slightly matured version he saw in London on occasion.

He did not expect to find a blonde version of Granger, with a book in one hand and note parchment in the other, traipsing through the jungle in a hat and gloves and ...

"Luna, what in Merlin's name is on your feet?"

"Boots." She looked down at them. "To keep me from being snake bitten."

"Why don't you just repel the snakes?" he asked her with a huff.

"Because this is their home. I'm just a visitor. You wouldn't like it if someone drove you out of the Manor so they could poke around looking for something." She tilted her head at him.

"They're _snakes,_ Luna." He rolled his eyes.

"Yes, they are." she smiled, and walked into the brush, humming to herself.


	5. Chapter 5

**and the way you read my mind.**

They were snuggled in the bed in the flat in London, the luxury penthouse apartment that had belonged to some long dead cousin.

His parents probably had forgotten they owned it, until Draco said he was going to use it when he was in London on business.

He neglected to mention that his business coincided with the time Luna was back for a week from wherever she had been this time, because in their eyes still was still a blood traitor, and beneath him.

He rather liked having her beneath him, actually, which made what was going on outside the flat all the more difficult.

"You don't want to tell me about her." Luna said, startling him so much he actually jumped.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, although he knew. He knew.

"You're dating Astoria Greengrass." she informed him.

He sighed. "Dating is not really the right word. Our parents are trying to arrange a match."

"I thought we had already been through this with Pansy Parkinson." she answered, sounding more curious than anything else.

"It's different this time. Pansy would have been a mistake. A disaster. Astoria is very ... agreeable." he subconsciously put a small space between them.

"Astoria just doesn't care." Luna clarified.

"Merging Malfoy Industries and Greengrass Limited would be a brilliant move for both companies." Draco continued. "The Greengrass family doesn't have any sons. Astoria isn't interested in running the company at all, and her sister Daphne is too caught up in her husband's business."

"You want the money and the power and to get your parents off your back about getting married and producing an heir." Luna looked at him, still with nothing more than curiosity.

He drew away from her.

"You make it sound like I'm prostituting myself out." he huffed.

"Aren't you?" she asked.

"It's not ... " he trailed off, because it was. He slid to the side of the bed and reached for his pants.

"I can't marry you, and you know it. We've already talked about it. My family wouldn't accept you. I don't want them hurting you. And despite the fact they're blood status obsessed racists, they are my parents and I love them."

He glanced back at Luna, who still lay in the bed, the covers only just covering her nakedness.

"I'll be back in a bit." he shoved his hand through his hair and impatiently pulled on enough clothes to be decent.

It wasn't until he stepped onto the sidewalk that he realized that it was his bloody apartment.


	6. Chapter 6

**I hate the way you drive your car**

"We're going to _die."_ Draco pronounced, looking uncertainly at the little blue convertible.

"People drive every day. Very few of them die." Luna shrugged, opening the door.

"That was supposed to be reassuring?" Draco asked, but walked around and got in the passenger side.

"You're not going to die before it's your time." Luna told him. "And when it's your time, I don't think it matters what you're doing."

"What if it's _your_ time?" he argued. "What if I just have the misfortune of being in close proximity?"

She smiled and started the engine.

"Maybe you should let me drive." he suggested.

"You don't know how to drive." she pointed out.

"Yes, but at least I would be trying to drive, and not looking for crumple horned snorckacks or blibbering humdingers and drive us off the road." he huffed.

"All right, I'll drive, and you keep on snorkack lookout." Luna smiled at him. "That's really very thoughtful of you, Draco."

They drove for nearly an hour out into the countryside, and Draco's white knuckled grip on the door handle eventually eased.

"Luna, you saw that little grove of trees we passed just before the curve?"

She glanced over at him for a moment, causing him to gasp and grip the door handle again.

"Yes, what about it?" she asked, turning her attention back to the road.

"Can we turn around and go back there? There's something I want to see."

She turned around and drove back to the spot he indicated, following his directions to pull the car down into the trees so it was barely visible from the road.

"What was it you wanted to see?" she turned to him curiously.

He grinned wickedly. "You naked." and pulled her into his lap.


	7. Chapter 7

**I hate the way you're always right**

"She's going to make you miserable, Draco." Luna picked up the caterpillar crawling on the bench next to her and allowed it to wander across her hand while she studied it.

"It could be worse." he shrugged. "We don't hate each other. They could be marrying me off to Pansy."

"Hating each other would actually be better." Luna tilted her head. "At least you would actually feel something. Not feeling anything is the worst of all."

"How can it be better to live with someone who's always shouting and insulting you?" he raised an eyebrow incredulously.

"Because living with someone with whom you share no feelings at all will suck the life out of you." she informed him. "And I know you better than that. You will feel something for her, even if you don't _love_ her. If she doesn't return it, you'll end up hurt one day."

That day came nine years later, the day Astoria had unemotionally informed him that she had aborted their second child, the result of a drunken one night stand with his own wife. She didn't want it, the marriage contract only said she had to provide an heir, so she had gotten rid of their baby without even telling him first.

He had shouted and cried and shouted some more.

She had remained cool and aloof throughout.

Draco had asked if she cared about him and Scorpius at all.

Her answer was "Of course." which they both knew was a lie.

He never told Luna, because he didn't want to relive how much he had been hurt that night.

He also would never admit she was right.


	8. Chapter 8

**I hate it when you make me laugh**

He had accompanied his mother to Diagon Alley to be measured for new dress robes for the wedding under protest. It wasn't like he didn't have things in his closet already he had never worn, and the tailor's shop had his measurements on file.

They both knew that his mother was going to take advantage of having him along to get his opinion on other things for the wedding. He didn't care. Honestly, the less he had to do with it, the happier he was going to be.

So he walked along grumbling in her shadow, when they both saw a familiar head of long, curly blonde hair come out of the bookshop.

Damn, he had thought she didn't get into town until tomorrow.

Narcissa stopped short, looking down her nose at the petite young woman in front of her.

"Oh, hello Draco. Hello, Mrs. Malfoy. Lovely day." Luna smiled pleasantly.

Narcissa frowned at Luna. "You call my son by his first name? Do you think that since our family contributed money toward one of your little creature explorations it means you and he have made friends or something?"

"Actually, your son and I have more than made friends since the war. We meet up several times a year and shag like puffskeins. Did you know that muggles call them tribbles and think they're imaginary, something that was made up for a television program?" Luna smiled pleasantly.

Between Luna's outrageous statement and his mother's horrified expression, Draco burst into laughter.

"I should think by now you should have learned not to tell mad stories!" Narcissa blustered.

"And I think you should have learned not to be rude." Luna shrugged and walked away. "But it's not a mad story." she called back. "Muggles do call them tribbles."


	9. Chapter 9

**I hate you so much it makes me sick, it even makes me rhyme.**

"I'm going to die, lying in the dirt in some Gods-forsaken African jungle and it's all your fault!" he whined, clutching his midsection.

"You're not lying in the dirt. You're on a cot." Luna informed him.

"Which is _on dirt."_ he moaned. "There's not even a floor here. We're in a tent that doesn't even have a floor. You live like a hobo, Luna."

"No." she shook her head. "Most hobos sleep in rail cars. They don't even have tents."

Whatever brilliant answer Draco would have returned was preempted by Rolf's return. "I found which potion you need. Unfortunately, I had to test your vomit to see what you had ingested that made you so sick. You really must take care not to drink the water without purifying it first." The older man held up a potion vial.

"Believe me, I never will again." Draco groaned. "What was in the water?"

"Elephant urine." Rolf informed him, and then neatly sidestepped as Draco rolled to the edge of the cot to retch, not that there was anything left in his system to come up.

When he finally stopped, Rolf offered the potion, which Luna had to help Draco drink, as his hands were shaking so much from being violently ill.

He laid back on the cot, arching an eyebrow at Rolf. "That actually tasted good."

"Well of course," Rolf shrugged with a grin. "You drank elephant pee. Anything else is going to taste good."

Draco started to turn green again.

"Stop!" Luna ordered. "Rolf, you're just being mean and you're going to make him waste a whole dose of the potion. Draco, there's no more toxins in your system. Believe me, you've gotten them all out by now. The potion actually does taste good. It has mint in it, which soothes your stomach. And it has a muscle relaxer and a pain reliever that will soothe the cramps. You'll feel much better in a few minutes."

Rolf excused himself to get back to work, and Draco closed his eyes for a few moments.

"I fucking hate you." he opened one eye to peer at her.

"No, I don't think you really do." she smiled.

"I do." he insisted.

"I hate you with the passion  
Of a thousand burning suns.  
I hate that you live like a hobo,  
And you actually think it's fun.  
I hate your bloody snake boots  
And the way you cut your hair.  
I hate that I terrify others  
But you I don't even scare."

"Draco, do you always become poetic when you're under the influence of narcotics?" she asked, tilting her head.

"I don't know." he frowned. "I don't even know what narcotics are.  
"I hate that you see through me.  
You know me better than I do.  
You make me think about things  
That I'm better off not to.  
I hate that you're a blood traitor.  
You can never be in my life.  
I hate that I married Astoria  
Because I wanted you for my wife."

His eyelids, which had been getting progressively heavier, finally slid closed, and his words trailed off into deep, even breathing.

When he woke, neither of them mentioned his poem.


	10. Chapter 10

**Even worse when you make me cry.**

He was a bit puzzled that she asked to meet him in Devon.

She never came that close to the Manor. They met in London, or wherever she was working at the time, or some place in between.

But she had owled and asked to meet at the tea shop, so he made an excuse to Astoria, not that she cared anyway, and went into town.

She sat at the corner booth, with mild glamours, but Draco would have recognized her regardless. He knew the way she sat, the way she moved, and the way her eyes looked up and met his.

They were sad today, and that worried him.

He slid in across from her, finding she had already ordered his favorite tea and scone, as she silenced the booth.

"I'm getting married." she said without preamble.

"What?" he gasped, feeling as if the world had fallen away from underneath him.

"To Rolf." she continued.

"Why?" he asked desperately.

"I'm pregnant." she announced.

He could not have been any more stunned if the late Severus Snape had walked in and begun a song and dance number in the middle of the room.

"Rolf will be a good father." she smiled slightly.

"How could you?" he growled.

"I didn't plan for this to happen." she answered with a hint of a frown. "I'm just trying to make the best of the situation."

"By getting involved with Rolf Scamander and marrying him and having a baby?" he fumed. "I thought you were happy with what we had, Luna!"

"I am, for the most part. But it's a very lonely existence sometimes. You know, when you go home to your wife and son." For the first time ever, he heard a trace of bitterness in her voice.

"Yeah, well don't call me crying when he gets eaten by a manticore!" Draco snapped, standing so suddenly that the untouched cup of tea sloshed all over the table.

He stomped to the floo, went straight to the study, locked the door, and downed half a bottle of firewhiskey before he allowed the tears to fall.


	11. Chapter 11

**I hate it when you lie.**

Flourish and Botts had Luna's new book. There was a picture of her with her family on the back cover.

Draco stared at the photograph, of Luna, smiling blandly into the camera, Rolf with his hand on her shoulder, and the twins in her lap.

He had never really looked at her sons before, not wanting to be reminded that she now belonged to another man. But this time, his eyes were drawn to her children.

They were clad in matching shirts, jeans, and scuffed child sized boots. They weren't identical, but there was no question they were brothers. They both had Luna's pale blonde hair and it looked like her gray eyes. One's hair was as straight as his own, while the other's was curly.

Draco stared into their little faces with the same pointed little chins. The realization struck him so sharply that he couldn't breathe.

The curly haired one, except for his hair, was a perfect copy of five year old Draco.

It took him about ten minutes to find out where the Scamander Expedition was at the moment, and another twenty to apparate halfway across Asia in 12 jumps.

"You lied to me!" he shouted into her face. "You fucking lied to me!"

"I don't believe I have, Draco." she frowned. "Why do you believe I lied to you?"

"The twins." he gestured wildly, his mouth opening and closing several times, before he settled on a simple "They're mine. They're my children."

"Of course they are." she nodded. "You're the only man I've ever slept with."

"You told me they were Rolf's!" he yelled.

"No, I didn't." she answered calmly. "I never said who their father was. You jumped to the conclusion that Rolf was their father."

He paused, mentally replaying the conversation in which she had told him she was pregnant and getting married, realizing that she hadn't said who the father was. In fact, she had left it open for him to ask if he was the father.

"You still should have told me." he argued, much of his previous bluster gone.

"What would you have done?" she asked. "Would you have told your wife? Would you have left her for a blood traitor and risked being disowned by your family? Would you have thrown away all that money to live, as you said, like a hobo? Would you have walked away from Scorpius?"

He started to open his mouth to answer, but closed it again before speaking.

She was right. He couldn't have left Scorpius, and she wouldn't have been happy living like a caged bird if he had set her and the twins up in some forgotten Malfoy property and supported them.

"Why?" he sank into a chair. "Why did you give my children to Rolf Scamander? Why did he agree to raise children that weren't his? Why didn't you at least tell me and give me the option of making a decision? You've kept me away from my children for almost five years!"

She sat across from him and held his hand. "Rolf is a good man. I said he would be a good father, and he has been. Children need stability. Rolf is my best friend, and he needed an heir. He fancies men, and his family would not accept his choice any more than your family would have accepted it if you had married me. He's good to the boys. He loves them, and they love him. As for why I didn't tell you, I thought it was the best at the time. You immediately concluded that you weren't their father. I took that as a sign I was doing the right thing."

"Do you still think you did the right thing?" he asked softly.

"Yes." she squeezed his hand. "It's not what I wanted for any of us, but it was the best I could make of the situation."


	12. Chapter 12

**I hate it when you're not around and the fact that you didn't call.**

He didn't owl her any more after the day she told him she was marrying Rolf.

He hated her, he really did, for throwing away what they had.

He read the articles about her in the press and the books she wrote so he could remind himself how much he hated her.

He never looked more than a cursory glance at the pictures of her children until the day he realized they were _his_ children.

He looked at them a little more closely after that, usually with liquor in his other hand, to remind himself that their mother was a heartless bitch who kept him from knowing his sons.

Especially after the day he realized he didn't know which one was his middle son and which was his youngest son.

He never owled her again, never made any attempt to speak to her on the two occasions he saw her in public after their confrontation.

One day, three years after his discovery, a picture of her family was on the front page of the Daily Prophet.

_**Scamander Killed by Manticore**_

_Magizoologist Rolf Scamander, grandson of author Newt Scamander, and a member of his team were killed by a manticore last week near Istanbul while researching a new book on the creatures. Scamander and his team were scouting locations of the beasts when they accidentally stumbled across the den of a manticore with newborn cubs. The mother animal attacked the men, mortally wounding Scamander, their leader, and his second in command, Phillip Grubblyplank. According to surviving members of the expedition, Scamander and Grubblyplank were bravely trying to protect their comrades from the rampaging beast. The other team members grabbed the fallen men and apparated to the nearest wizarding hospital, but the injuries the two magizoologists suffered were too extensive, and both men succumbed within the day._

_Scamander's wife, Luna Lovegood Scamander, herself a noted magizoologist and author, normally would have been with the team, but had stayed behind in Athens with their children, as one of the youngsters had fallen ill._

_The Scamander family issued a statement ..._

Draco's blood ran cold, as he remembered the day she told him she was marrying Rolf.

"Yeah, well don't call me crying when he gets eaten by a manticore!"

She hadn't.


	13. Chapter 13

**But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you; not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all.**

He made seven frantic floo calls to Turkey and Greece, only to find out no one there knew where she was.

He ran downstairs from his office, literally, taking the stairs, too impatient to wait for the lift.

He flung open the door of the Auror office, looking around madly.

"Potter!" he shouted, causing the staff standing around to draw their wands and assume defensive stances. "Potter!"

The department head came from the back office.

"Malfoy?" he frowned. "What's wrong? Are you being attacked?"

"Where's Luna?" Draco asked frantically.

Potter's face hardened. "Look, she's going through a rough time now, her ... "

"Scamander was killed by a manticore!" Draco cried. "I've got to talk to her!"

"Malfoy, she needs support right now, not for your foundation to demand return of whatever funds you donated ..." Potter began.

"I told her not to come crying to me when was he was eaten by a manticore but I didn't mean it and he's dead and she didn't call me and I've got to talk to her!" Draco yelled in one breath.

An odd look crossed Potter's face. "Come back into my office and let's talk. Get back to work. Don't the lot of you have some crimes to solve?" he asked the group.

They walked back to Potter's office, where he closed and silenced the door.

"Try it again, a little slower and much lower volume." Potter instructed, waving his hand at the chair across the desk.

"When Luna told me she was going to marry Rolf, I got angry and told her 'Don't come crying to me when he gets eaten by a manticore.' I didn't mean to curse him. I was just angry and said the first thing that came to mind." Draco told him. "I need to tell her I didn't mean it and I'm sorry. I don't know where she is. I figured you would know."

Potter looked at him for so long, Draco was about to start shouting again.

"Why did she tell you she was marrying Rolf?" Potter asked, folding his arms. "And what business of yours was it to get angry?"

Draco sighed and looked at his hands before raising his head to meet Potter's eyes. "She and I had gotten ... close ... after the trial. We would get together a few times a year. I cared about her. I felt like she cheated on me when she told me she was pregnant and marrying Scamander."

"Cheated on _you?"_ Potter raised an eyebrow. "Weren't you married at the time? In fact, aren't you still married?"

"No one said it made sense, all right?" Draco fumed before continuing in a pleading tone. "Just please. Tell me where she is. I won't hurt her, I swear. I just want to apologize and make sure she and our ... her children are okay."

"You're the father of the twins." Potter supplied bluntly.

Draco nodded. "I didn't know at the time. I didn't know until they were almost five. That wasn't Luna's fault." he hurried to add. "She didn't say who the father was, and I jumped to the conclusion she was pregnant by Rolf." His face creased in a frown. "You knew, didn't you?"

Potter shrugged. "I had reason to suspect the twins weren't Rolf's. I know the man he was involved with. But I never asked, and Luna never told."

Draco nodded again.

"She and the boys are at The Burrow. The Weasley home. I'll floo call and tell them you're coming." Potter scrawled an address on a parchment. "I'm warning you. Her marriage to Rolf may not have been a conventional one, but she did care very much for him, and she's grieving. And Charlie Weasley is there. If you do or say anything to upset him, I will turn my back while the rest of the Weasleys use you for target practice."

"Thank you." Draco breathed, grabbing the paper and running from the office. He went outside and apparated to a spot near Luna's home, over the hill from the Weasley residence. He took several deep breaths and forced himself to walk calmly.

He was met halfway down the path by the Weasel King himself.

"What are you doing here?" the redheaded man asked.

"I came to see Luna." Draco answered humbly.

"Why?" Weasel folded his arms.

"I need to talk to her. I owe her an apology for something I said several years ago." Draco said.

"And why do you think now, when she's just lost her husband, is a good time?" Weasel made no move to step aside.

"Because Rolf Scamander didn't know the other day when he went out that he wouldn't come home that night. And when you think about it, none of us have any guarantee that we will make it home tonight." Draco shrugged.

Weasel nodded. "That's a pretty good answer. But if you upset her ... "

Draco rolled his eyes. "Potter has already threatened me, thank you."

Weasel grinned and stepped aside.

Just before he reached the front door, Draco was surprised to see it open, and his mother step out. Mrs. Weasley followed her onto the step.

"Thank you again for the casserole. I'll make sure your dish gets back to you." the redheaded woman called.

"No rush." Narcissa smiled, then turned around and ran almost headlong into her son. "Draco, what are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to Luna." he frowned. "What are you doing here, Mother?"

"I came to offer my sympathies to a neighbor who lost her husband." Narcissa narrowed her eyes. "And to make sure my grandsons were all right."

Draco froze. "You knew."

"Of course I knew." Narcissa gave him a withering look. "I'm your mother. We'll talk about it later."

She kissed him on the cheek and continued toward the gate, leaving him to approach the door alone. He knocked, and to his surprise, Luna herself answered.

"Hello, Draco." she said wearily with a tear stained face. "Harry called and said you were coming."

"Luna, can I please talk to you? Alone?" he looked back over his shoulder to where Weasel King still watched.

"Come on." she took his hand. "We'll go to the broomshed. Molly?" she called over her shoulder. "I'm walking outside for a moment. Could you please keep an eye on the boys?"

Someone answered something that Draco couldn't quite make out, but Luna seemed satisfied with the answer.

She led him to a shack that appeared to only be standing because it couldn't decide which direction to fall. They went inside, closed the door, and she muttered a silencing charm and a lumos.

"I'm sorry!" he cried before she could speak. "I never intended anything to happen to Rolf. I was angry. I know he was good to you and the boys and he helped me the time I drank elephant piss and ... " he trailed off, motioning vaguely with his hands.

"I know you didn't mean Rolf any harm, Draco." she said softly.

"I didn't mean any to you either." he shook his head. "I didn't mean it when I said I hated you. I never really hated you. I was just angry."

"Of course not." she smiled sadly. "You were under the influence of that potion."

"No." he looked away and then back at her. "I've said it a lot of other times over the past few years. You just weren't there to hear it." He sighed. "I love you, Luna."

"I love you too." she again smiled sadly.

"I mean it. Marry me. As soon as I can get divorced. We've wasted enough time." He pulled her in and kissed her.

"Draco, you're still married. My husband has been dead for five days." she began.

He kissed her again. "The Luna Lovegood I fell in love with wouldn't care about such things."

"The Luna Lovegood you ... " she broke off and looked up at him. She swallowed and continued. "Luna Lovegood has grown up and has responsibilities. There's the whole matter of the funeral and settling the estate. The twins don't even know about you. And I wasn't in love with Rolf, but I did love him. I need some time. And you have to work things out about Scorpius."

"Scorp goes to Hogwarts this fall." he told her. "That's going to make things a good bit easier. Astoria and I will just have to work out how to divide his holidays. I don't think she will really want too many of them, anyway."

"Draco, I mean it about me needing some time." she laid her head against his shoulder.

"I'll be here when you're ready." he promised.

"I love you too, Draco." she kissed him.


End file.
